Following the five-year onset of Bitcoin, the minting and selling of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) entered the marketplace, making their debut in May of 2014 with Kevin McCoy's digital work entitled Quantum. A radical source of inspiration pulsating with prismatic hues, the NFT grossed $1.4 million at a Sotheby auction in 2021.
With the adoption of new technologies, CryptoPunks came into the scene in June of 2017, a unique series of characters created on the Ethereum blockchain, and later that year, CryptoKitties launched, a blockchain-based game that lets players adopt, breed, and trade virtual cats. Both projects went viral, rapidly gaining media recognition and gradually moving into the spotlight. In early 2021, crypto art and NFTs exploded in popularity and according to data from Nonfungible.com, sales of NFTs hit $14.4 billion.
From major projects featured on the OpenSea market including Bored Ape Yacht Club and its cousin Mutant Ape Yacht, to Azuki, Cool Cats, and Invisible Friends, creators and artists alike are embracing this movement as a new channel of monetization while continuing to push the envelope of innovation with digital artwork, collectibles, virtual fashion, gaming, and more. With so many NFTs and crypto products flooding the digital space, it may seem like a daunting task to establish both value and fruition in an ever-changing ecosystem. But co-founder of NFT-based project Cereal Club, Andy Treys, has discovered the secret recipe to success.
Adopting a Kobe Bryant inspired mindset, aka the Mamba Mentality, Treys accredits this new way of thinking not only to his victory within the NFT space, but to his other ventures as well. "Mamba Mentality is the secret recipe to life, how to outwork everyone, to be and think differently," he says. "If you learn to work smarter and harder, everything you want will come to you."
Treys is an award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of flourishing startups, including Muscle Lab recovery and wellness lounge, Getmefamous social media marketing agency, Accommodations, a luxury home and exotic car rental company, and of course, Cereal Club, an NFT collection that consists of 10,000 unique cereal bowls, each with their own flavors and unique attributes. The collection began minting on February 15, 2020 and sold out its whitelist just 24 hours after selling out the public auction.
Cultivating an exclusive family of NFT enthusiasts, collectors, and flippers interwoven by charming cereal heads, heart eyes, and joyful rainbow tongues, the Cereal Club community is home to members who strive to empower Web3 across the NFT ecosystem and disrupt the digital world with ingenuity. "We've been working hard behind the scenes to execute on our vision for Cereal Club and deliver on every step in our roadmap," says Treys. "Our vision is to become leaders in the space."
Cereal Club's rarest NFT recently sold for over $16,000 and the brand recently announced via their Twitter page that they acquired Cereal.com to facilitate the sales of its direct-to-consumer line of cereals coming later in the year. "Creating and partnering with major cereal distributors will help us to achieve maximum awareness," says Treys. The project will launch exclusive, limited-edition web3 integrated cereals in collaboration with other prominent NFT projects and athletes involved within the NFT spectrum.
Since its initial launch, the Cereal Club Twitter page has gained more than 140,000 followers and the increase in popularity is on the rise. To continue spreading the word and building its colorful community, Cereal Club has partnered with a diversity of brands and projects, including Aaron Donald, 2022 Super Bowl Champion, and John Imah, the Head of Brand and Game Partnerships at Snapchat.
The spread of NFTs is impossible to deny, and many individuals are making a killing in its medley of projects and communities. Cereal Club, however, is one of the latest batches that has both the backing and momentum to grow substantially.
